"What are you?" Kaelen whispered, his mouse hovering over the download link.

Then the text began to scroll within the widget. It wasn't code; it was a live feed of his own heart rate, his room temperature, and—most unsettlingly—a countdown.

He tried to delete the file, but the "OK15" flag in the filename— Override Kernel 15 —had already taken root. The tablet’s camera light flickered blue, a color it wasn't supposed to be capable of producing. The countdown hit .